Leah Messer: How Ali’s Muscular Dystrophy Affects Her Twin Sister

The ‘Teen Mom 2′ star’s daughter Aleeah feels neglected after her twin sister, Aliannah, was diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. With a new baby in the family and and all of Ali’s needs demanding her parents’ time, Leah and her husband are struggling to give Aleeah an outlet to express her own emotions!

Leah Messer has a lot on her plate: the Teen Mom 2 star has a new baby, Adalynn and twin girls Ali and Aleeah, 4, one of whom has muscular dystrophy. Ali’s disorder takes up so much of Leah and her husband Jeremy Calvert‘s time — and the baby takes up the rest — so she hasn’t been paying equal attention to her other twin daughter, who has started acting out because of it.

“The disorder affects organs that rely heavily on other muscles and her heart and lungs,” Leah told In Touch of muscular dystrophy. “We have doctors keeping an eye on all these things.”

Leah even goes so far as to drive long hours back and forth to physical therapy and doctors appointments, and has her enrolled in a special needs pre-school. Ali’s twin sister, Aleeah, feels like Ali gets all the attention from her parents, and when they aren’t tending to Ali’s needs, they are focusing on the 11 month old baby, Adalynn.

“She felt like Ali was getting all the attention. Ali gets to go to a special needs program at school, so right now Ali has fun and has friends and Aleeah’s like, ‘why can’t I go to school? Why can’t I do homework?’ So we’ve got her in a cheerleading class instead,” she said of her daughters’ individual needs. “We try to make it even out.”

Leah Messer & Jeremy Calvert: Marriage Tested

Leah and Jeremy have only been married two years, but have been tested over and over again, and are struggling to balance caring for a special needs child and two other energetic kids, but Leah revealed all the trials have made them closer.

“He’s learning who to give work what they need and his family what they need,” Leah told In Touch. “But we love each other unconditionally.”

Jeremy is also totally committed to being a father to not only Adalynn, but also to Leah’s twins with ex-husband Corey Simms. “Eventually, Ali could be in a wheelchair all the time,” Calvert, 21, told Us. “But I’ve never seen her so happy.”

What do YOU think HollyMoms? Should Leah pay more attention to Aleeah?

Leah and Jeremy do an incredible job caring for Aliannah and Aleeah! I have never seen a young mother handle her child’s different abilities and capabilities so maturely and lovingly in all my life. Having a loved one with disabilities is difficult to begin with, but with Ali being so young it really tears at your heart to see what their whole family goes through. Thank God that Aliannah has the social support system that she does, and I’m sure Aleeah getting special lessons and special Aleeah time will work on her behavioral outbursts! It’s just hard because at four years old, Aleeah does not understand her sister isn’t getting special treatment, she’s getting help and painful therapies because she is not as physically able as her. Great Job Leah and Jeremy!